The word chocolate can be associated with many words: dark, white, milk, hot, sweet, spicy, etc. But have you tried to combine it with the word web design? We did. We searched the Web for websites in any way related to chocolate and what we found is worth to be collected in this showcase. The interesting thing is that you would probably never stumble upon some of the sites, so the overview below may provide you with a unique perspective and get your creative juices flowing.

As one would expect, chocolate website often use an appetizing brown dominant color. If you take time to look at the panel of colors associated with it, you will find out that there is a lot of combination working really well. Apart from this component, each site is unique and features an original identity, depending on product presentation and given information.

Feel free to explore the designs featured below. Some of them are nice examples for Flash used for product presentation. Some designs are very classy while others are more artistically designed. But they all have in common this fascinating sweetness everyone loves.

Similarities In Chocolate Website Designs

We found out that there are three common techniques that seem to crop up over and over again on various chocolate-related websites. A vast majority of the sites use a horizontal top-navigation, brilliant product and ingredient images as well as a dark brown color scheme which is often combined with vivid, strong colors.

1CharlesChocolates2: the bright blue color scheme here is fun and fresh, but the thick footer navigation is what really makes the CharlesChocolates’ site stand out.

The navigation patterns are mostly common and convenient, however we’ve noticed quite a few uncommon navigation menus as well. The interesting part is that we’ve seen only a couple of typical boring stock templates. Apparently, most chocolate and confectionery website owners do care about their branding and their unique presentation on the Web. In fact, many sites try to be playful, creating an engaging, interactive and memorable user experience. That’s not something you will see in every industry, e.g. certainly not among medical websites.

Horizontal Top Navigation

Because chocolate websites vividly highlight product and ingredient images and therefore fill a large part of the layout with visuals, the choice of horizontal top navigation seems quite appropriate. The number of navigation options varies from five to nine links per navigation menu (excluding sub-navigation links). The most common navigation links lead to pages describing the manufacturor of the chocolate, shops where the chocolate is available and “gifts” pages where users can order business gifts, wedding gifts etc. Sometimes the navigation also contains a link to the recipes page.

Jeff de Bruges3Offsetting each navigation element with it’s own double border makes each link stand out and adds visual interest to the header.

Product and Ingredient Images

The quality of product photography on chocolate websites is remarkable. Images are often large and dominant and are given a lot of both horizontal and vertical space. In fact, chocolate, especially gourmet chocolate, is often very visually interesting. The ingredients that go into it can also be very aesthetically pleasing. So it only makes sense that a lot of designers are opting to include mouth-watering images of the chocolate being sold on a given site.

Brown Color Scheme

Obviously, dark brown color scheme dominates on chocolate websites. However, very often the scheme is complemented with vibrant, dynamic colors such as bright green or red. In general, most sites do stick to the dark scheme, often with tiled or photographic backgrounds which are closely related to the main theme.

Dove Chocolate33The Dove Chocolate site has an almost exclusively brown website design, with varying shades used to offset different parts of the site.

Hemmankonditor39Varying shades of brown, from the very dark brown (almost black) of the background to the lighter browns of the navigation and header are all evocative of the many varieties of chocolate out there, and what can be made with them.

Unique Designs

Some chocolate websites fight for user’s attention with striking design elements and unconventional navigation schemes. Some of them are presented below. In these cases, (for site owners) the engaging and memorable user experience seems to play a very important role.

Max Brenner47The Max Brenner website is set apart for a few reasons. The right-hand vertical navigation is one reason. But also the retro, grungy design with the animated eye (you’ll have to visit the actual site to see it).

Bloomsberry49The animation used on the Bloomsberry site is interesting and very well-done. The navigation is also atypical, with links easily identifiable but scattered throughout the main part of the home page.

The Smashing team loves high-quality content and cares about the little details. Through our online articles, Smashing Books, eBooks as well as Smashing Conferences, we are committed to stimulating creativity and strengthening the web design community’s creative forces.

Jessica

I think the “thoughts” are up to every designer, if you are not capable to analyze and take the good from the bad you shouldn’t consider yourself a complete designer. Do you think the same about all the design books compiling extraordinary images, posters, websites, logos, etc? most of them don’t explain in “detail” every single one, their purpouse it’s to show what’s there, refreshing to the eye, and for all of us find inspiration, you should thank instead of critized just because you are not happy with the article. Go somewhere else. Sorry.

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Jen Walter

While I can see and agree with what you said, I feel the need to point out one little problem with these types of showcases that perhaps you haven’t considered. How many students, or even potential students are looking at these sites? People who are learning the trade? How can they learn why something made it into these showcases if we don’t tell them? I’ve been in the industry almost 10 years now and I’m always surprised when a student tells me they don’t know what good design is, they can point to these sites, but they don’t know why it got there. Other than “it’s pretty”. Yea, it is.. pretty sad.

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Julia May

Jen, I think it’s a student’s problem if they don’t know what good design is. Yes, seeing a showcase like this a budding designer may not know the reason these design were selected for. But after all, if a question arises, isn’t it a cause for a student to go to the library and learn? Gosh, if I make a conclusion that I don’t have a clear idea about something I’m studying, I just go and learn harder. Frankly speaking, I would not expect a website showcase to be a solid ground for my knowledge to be based on. A showcase like this has another purpose, in my opinion, and here I totally agree with Jessica’s comment.

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Patrick

I guess my question would be, why bother with the ‘article’ at all? What value is it? How is more than the results of a Google search or one of the many CSS galleries out there?

Thank you for telling me to go elsewhere. I normally come to Smashing because it offers insight. If that’s no longer supposed to be the case, if it is only here to show lists of websites without significant comment, then I will probably take you up on your suggestion.

I do congratulate you on being the ‘complete designer’ already. You must be very pleased to have progressed beyond the need for hearing what someone else might have to say about a design. I certainly think I have plenty to learn, and I’m always happy to read other people’s interpretations and to receive their insights. That way, maybe I too will one day reach your heights. I can at least aspire.

Lizy

sublimpixel

Leigh Hyland

Not so much a design feat (being its a wordpress template) but my 11 year old likes chocolate so much he started his own blog just so he coulddiscuss it. – http://remcoverstudio.com/jack/, I have to say I applaud his efforts for his age.

christian

weird… first thoughts that popped up in my mind when i saw the “Chocolate Research Facility” were: HEY THAT’S A NICE GIMMICK FOR THE BP WEBSITE, TOO! Although i wouldn’t see chocolate as the tough brown liquid in that case…

Pablo

fayis

harveylimsponytail

One of my favourite chocolate related websites in this from http://choc-in-a-box-fountains-ltd.co.uk/, a small chocolate fountain supplier, that proves you can have a very small online business and still have a beautiful site. Many small businesses find it very hard to find someone who can build great looking sites, for a small fee and end up with some rather garish looking mess instead.

Dr. Aloha

steve

A bit more analysis would have been nice. I’m sorry, but this type of article is hardly more than a google search. Things like:

“Dark brown used throughout the design of Valrhona’s site makes one think of dark, high-end chocolate.”

Or

“Having the top navigation highlighted by a thin orange border makes it more visible to new visitors.”

Are not exactly in-depth. Personally, I’d prefer to see fewer examples and more thought. Sorry.”
— I fully endorse and concur with the tone and content of Patrick’s post.
Such “articles” as this one are, in my view an embarrassment to a web citizen the stature of SmashingMagazine.
As insightful as a page of Google results and 1/2 as useful it typifies the regurgitated and ultimately useless state of the world wide weed. Continues resprouted clones of the same nonintelligent parsings as useful as an ‘Article’ on President Obama – “He was tall and black”

Tomasz Woźniak

Amanda

Vikesh Patel

Really good collection of websites.
I especially like the Wispa website, as it’s the first website about chocolate which is made up of illustrations. Normally this sort of design is used on designer’s portfolio websites, but the design works really well here too.
Its interesting to see that some of these web pages don’t have images of chocolates on the homepage, I think these are the best of your collection as they are unique in design and are not overloaded with content.

EXL Interactive

Yummy chocolates are temptig me to have a yummy bite and keep yumming about them…the chcolates are funthese days. you can experiment alot with them…I lately heard about Chocolare Popcorns…they sounded odd at first but I really liked them…I love to have excuses to keep eating chcolates and keep finding reasons to eat them…what i liked, I would like to share it with you…here is where I found Chocolate Popcorns. Thanks Sugar-plumhttp://www.sugar-plum.com/

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paulkern

湾区华人

“Hey, maybe this post is often a bit off topic but in any occasion, i’ve been searching all around your blog and it seems actually superb. impassioned about your creating. I am constructing a new blog and struggling to produce it search great, and provide great top quality matter make any difference. I have discovered a much right here and that i search ahead to far more updates and will be again.”

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Rob

Daniel Roch

Those websites are really good. Some of theme are really original, and it makes me want to eat more chocolate. But for some of theme, it seems quite difficult to find and buy products online, for example kambly.

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